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Katie
Maybe you would have been a day early like your sister. Maybe you’d be on time like your brother. Maybe you’d be late like your mama. But I’ll never know your story and so I’ll write it for you. June 1st would have been my due date. You would have brought me sunshine in my saddest month. When I got pregnant with you, sweet child, I didn’t know if I could do it. Your due date month was the same month as my mom’s birthday. It was also the same month as the day…
I wrote a post prior to leaving for our Italian destination wedding that detailed how I planned for it. However, things don’t always go according to plan for a European destination wedding! The good news? Some things went better (and yes, some things went worse). So here are some things I learned after all is said and done, so you can avoid my pitfalls and relish in my wins. Pay more for hair & make up Yes, I thought I was totally winning when I found an Italian salon that offered wedding hair and make up for less than…
My mom hasn’t been on the earth plane since 2016, but that doesn’t mean that the words people say to me still don’t sting. I’ve heard these 4 phrases more times than I can count. And although they may come from a place of love, they sure aren’t as comforting as one would think. Here’s why. “I’m sorry for your loss” This phrase is one of my biggest pet peeves. No matter who/what was lost, saying “I’m sorry for your loss” puts it back on the person grieving. I feel…
It was sometime last year that I was pursuing Facebook and I came across a post on the Girls Love Travel Facebook group that I declared to Jordan that we should look into getting married in Italy. The post was full of wonderful ideas of where to have a destination wedding but one woman’s story of getting married at a villa in Tuscany stood out to me. She let me message her and from there she was sending me the VRBO page for the villa and lots of recommendations for a musician, hair and makeup, cake, etc. The villa…
Over the last year, I have been inundated with emails, blog comments, instagram DMs, facebook messages, etc, from women who have lost their moms, moms who have lost their moms, dads who have lost their wives, etc. I have woken up to these messages. I’ve gone to sleep to these messages. I even got one on my birthday. If you’re here, then there’s a good chance you found me from an article I wrote on Motherly. Or, perhaps, you found me googling grieving your mother. Or, maybe you found me for my motherhood and…
If you know me even a bit, you probably know that I love to throw a party. I relate to Leslie Knope in this sense – everything should be celebrated! And if your baby girl is turning one?! Well, that calls for an epic cake, a theme that corresponds with her age, and lots of fun activities. I have always been obsessed with quotes from Alice in Wonderland. Hattie’s nursery was adorned with wildflowers and the quote “Don’t you know she’s a wildflower?” from Alice in Wonderland is displayed on her wall…
I (like most people) have become accustomed to tragedy. I don’t say this lightly. After losing my mom, I have learned that having sadness in my life is always within arms reach. Things will happen. There’s nothing we can do to stop the evil. We just have to keep moving, going, hoping that it stays away for as long as possible. Losing my mom was and is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with. It’s something no one can understand until they’ve gone through it –…
The East coast of NC has been in a tizzy this week preparing for Hurricane Florence. While I could care less about the food I might lose if the power is out for days, I care a whole heck of a alot about the breast milk that could thaw and keeping my six year old entertained. Here is my list of how I’m getting through the storm with my children. A hurricane with a breastfeeding baby While there’s a plus side to having a breastfed baby in a natural disaster (boobs will always be there!), there…
I’ve talked a lot on social media lately about why I love breastfeeding my children, but not of my breastfeeding anxiety. I’m going on almost 23 months of my life spent breastfeeding between the two of them. I love that I was able to do this for them, and for myself, and I know reaching my 1-year goal with Hattie will feel just as wonderful as it did when I hit it with Jude. But breastfeeding isn’t all rainbows and sunshine. It’s hard – and I don’t just mean physically, because well, let’s face…
With the month of August being world breastfeeding month, now is a more appropriate time than ever for me to write about just that: breastfeeding! I’ve been lucky in my journey with both of my children that they latched immediately and I was always able to nurse when needed. That being said, I did (and still do) struggle with pumping at work. My body just doesn’t love a pump. I know a lot of women struggle with their baby not latching, tongue/lip ties, no support from those around them, pumping, etc. There are a lot of challenges…
